If you feel unwell at altitude it is altitude illness until proven otherwise.

GOLDEN RULE II:

Never ascend with symptoms of AMS.

GOLDEN RULE III:

If you are getting worse (or have HACE or HAPE), go down at once.

Questioning Your Porters About AMS Symptoms

If you hire your own porters, please be aware that they are just as susceptible as you to the ravages of AMS. Porters may even be at increased risk of severe forms of altitude illness as they are unlikely to know anything about AMS, are more likely to
have a communication barrier to telling you how they feel, and may actively hide their symptoms as they fear losing their job due to illness.

For those of you who will be trekking in Nepal, please look at the AMS questionnaire with phonetic Nepali translations (based on the Lake Louise AMS scoring criteria). For more information, also look at the
International Porter
Protection Group's web site.